Dog bites off infantís finger
March 10, 2012
By Ashley Rittenhouse , The Marietta Times

NEW MATAMORAS - A New Matamoras infant's finger was bitten off by a dog Friday morning while his mother slept on the couch next to him.

Washington County's dog warden Kelly Schubert, who is also a deputy with the sheriff's office, said the mother of the 5-week-old boy called 911 around 8:45 a.m. Friday, claiming her son's finger was missing.

Schubert met the mother, 22-year-old Jena Stewart, at Marietta Memorial Hospital, where she discovered that the pinky finger on the baby's left hand was gone. Stewart told Schubert a 6-week-old Labrador retriever bit the child.

"(The boy) also had scratches on its face and its ear- a lot of blood- and they transported the child to Columbus to (Nationwide) Children's Hospital (in Columbus)," Schubert said. "Thankfully they got (the dog) to regurgitate it shortly after they gave him the necessary liquid to help that happen. Columbus said absolutely they think they can reattach the finger."

Schubert said Friday afternoon the baby was clearly in pain, but stable and alert. She said the dog was at Green Meadow Veterinary Hospital in Marietta, where the veterinarian was attempting to remove the tip of a pacifier it swallowed earlier in the day.

The incident occurred at the residence of Stewart and her son, the Parkway Townhouses on Williamson Avenue in New Matamoras. There, Schubert found three puppies Stewart says she got for free from residents in Fly earlier in the week.

"She said that she was asleep on the couch, the baby was asleep on the bouncer next to her close to the floor and she said that she got woke up by her friend who came downstairs from the house and said that there was blood all over her child," Schubert said. "She investigated the blood and found that the child's finger was missing so she called 911. She said the child was not crying when it happened, she didn't hear the child."

Eighteen-year-old Bobbi "Kelsey" Dobbs, who also lives in the apartment complex, woke Stewart up after going from the second floor of Stewart's apartment to the first floor to feed her own child, a 2-month-old girl.

"She got up with the baby and went downstairs and that's when she observed all the blood on Jena's infant; she then shook Jena to wake Jena," Schubert said.

Both the Washington County Sheriff's Office and Washington County Children Services are investigating the incident. Schubert said Stewart has willingly surrendered the dogs to the Humane Society of the Ohio Valley in Marietta, where they will be available for adoption.

Schubert said no one should be hesitant to adopt the dog that was involved in the incident. The other two dogs, she said, appear to be mixes of Labrador retriever and rottweiler.

"These dogs are not vicious; they're puppies being puppies. They were very well fed, they weren't mistreated, they were cared for and they look very healthy...so it wasn't a matter of not being fed and they were hungry," Schubert said. "It's just they're puppies and they chew on things."

Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks commended Schubert for her actions.

"A lot of people would have gone up there and said, 'OK, let's take the dog and shoot him,' but Kelly said take it to the vet, have it X-rayed, find the finger in the stomach and have the dog regurgitate the finger...I think that's pretty awesome," he said.